Programming
by Ryuko DragonHalf
Summary: Calhoun and Felix have a few things to figure out between them, but there's no time for that. Another character's gone missing! With the arcade opening in a few hours, it's a race to ensure no one else gets unplugged. The rogue's found an interesting place to hide, though...


Greetings everyone! Yep, I'm writing again, but I seriously SHOULDN'T BE. I'm halfway through animation school and about to start the layout for my film, but I HAD to get this story at least part-way out in order to concentrate tomorrow! What can I say, Wreck-It Ralph is AMAZING! Go see it already - heck, go see it again! XD

So let's see... ah, **spoiler alert!** This takes place after the movie! And as usual, I do not own Wreck-It Ralph in any way, shape or form, that honor belongs to Disney. Thanks for the amazing film, guys!

And without further ado... and with a much later bedtime than I'd planned... I hope you enjoy what's to come!

* * *

PROGRAMMING

Game Central Station had an active buzz these days. After word spread about Ralph's game-jumping adventure, the denizens of the arcade were more open than ever to visiting with other characters after the arcade closed. Tapper's was a particular favorite; the man himself was so busy now, he'd regularly ask anyone with free time to help him serve his customers. Frogger's precise jumps came in rather handy as he delivered the drinks, while Johnny Cage worked his charm behind the counter... which, quite honestly, turned out to be more amusing than anything.

It wasn't just the virtual tavern that was seeing more activity though. On several occasions, Yuni Verse would offer dance lessons for anyone wanting to learn and unwind after a long day – these usually became upbeat parties, and no one ever complained. Mario had shown a sudden interest in basketball, and rumor had it that Bart Simpson was practicing every chance he got to challenge the plumber in a little one on one. Even the villains were being included more often, as evidenced by M. Bison joining Gilius Thunderhead for jam sessions in Guitar Hero. Overall, as disastrous as things had nearly become, life at Litwak's was improving.

Well, for the most part.

"We need intel, and fast," Calhoun growled lowly into her communicator. She was walking slowly past the entrance to Sonic Fighters, eyes sharply darting back and forth. "The sooner we find this MIA miscreant, the better. And keep it quiet, the last thing we need is widespread panic."

The communicator chirped, followed by Markowski's voice. "Roger that. No sign of anything in Dig-Dug, but Taizo's giving it another sweep."

"Copy that for X-Men," Spears' voice added through a static crackle. "I've got Nightcrawler checking the harder to reach levels. We'll keep you posted."

The sergeant bit down a few colorful words. Not good enough. "I want this kid found faster than a roach finds cover from a bright light, you hear me?" she hissed. "We've only got a few hours until the arcade opens! Any sign of a trail, I _will_ be the first to hear it! Calhoun out!"

She snapped the communicator off with a frustrated huff. The whole incident in Sugar Rush kept her on edge about people vanishing into different games. Sure, visiting other cabinets was becoming a common practice, and it encouraged a stronger sense of unity within the arcade. It was a welcome atmosphere, and Calhoun knew that locking everyone into their own games for security's sake would cause a stir-crazy riot born of cabinet-fever. But that little Surge Protector could only do so much. Apparently, he'd been busy cleaning up graffiti when this happened (though she had her own theories about who was _actually_ responsible for the vandalism). Despite the fact that Calhoun had started sending out small patrols to beef up security, she only had so many troops to spare after hours; the cybug threat didn't stop when the arcade closed. Realistically, it wasn't likely that anyone else would think of going 'Turbo'. Still, in her line of work, one could never be too careful.

Especially when a character suddenly vanished and couldn't be found. Calhoun was approached earlier to help hunt this rogue down. From what she'd been told, there was no malicious intent behind their disappearance; it was just an argument gone sour, and the missing party had stormed off. They were given some time to cool down before anyone started looking. By then, however, they'd squirreled away to a different game entirely, and there was no sign of them returning anytime soon. With possibilities ranging from stubbornly avoiding all signs of life to the very real danger of that final game over, Calhoun had sent her top soldiers to every console, advising them to recruit the help of select locals familiar with their own games.

And yes, that included both Sugar Rush and Fix-It Felix Jr. Her colleagues were the most eager to help, and had proven track records when it came to finding missing characters. She was glad for Vanellope's help especially. Her can-do attitude and intimate knowledge of hidden areas in her game meant that Sugar Rush would be checked thoroughly, no questions asked. Ralph, having gone AWOL himself, now had a certain understanding of this kind of situation, along with whatever strength was needed to get the job done. He didn't mind having Felix join him – with the little handyman's natural friendliness and diplomacy, theirs was a team equipped to handle almost anything.

The instant she thought of Felix, Calhoun immediately forced herself to think of something, _anything_ else. It was true that they had formed some kind of... bond in Sugar Rush. She'd given him credit for owning up to his responsibility to find Ralph, and showing an assertiveness she didn't really expect from the little guy. _That_ is where the line should have been drawn. Get the job done, pat on the back, and call it a day.

No goo-goo eyes, no losing her composure over an errant comment, and especially none of that "honeyglow" business!

... and it was just a victory kiss in the heat of the moment. They'd dodged a bullet when all hope was lost, so of course they were going to celebrate. Fix-It was the one who'd started that nonsense anyway.

It didn't matter how nice of an experience that was.

All things considered, when the sergeant had finished thinking about it, the sad truth was that it really didn't matter.

Everything went back to programming. Mannerisms, backstories, attitudes, catch-phrases, clothes, physiology, settings, items, languages, abilities – absolutely everything was defined by a string of code. It was the key to their existence and survival. Without it, or defying it, characters would go haywire, glitching beyond repair. No example was clearer than the one shown by Turbo, and even Vanellope, who had luckily been reset to her proper format. In a sense, Ralph was the same way. He was programmed to be the bad guy, and would never win one of those medals – but he seemed to have accepted that particular fate now.

Calhoun's own coding was a strong testament to that as well. Anything that reminded her of Brad would remind her of her duty and motivate her to work five times harder. She lived up to these expectations, never once showing any indication that she was tired of it. Of course, she was never tired of it – she couldn't be. That was the crux of her programming.

Thus, it stood to reason that no one was an exception – not even Felix. He was programmed to be a dutiful, hard working hero, and he lived up to that code whether he was fixing the apartment or making conversation in Game Central. Whatever affectionate notions he had must have stemmed from some other line of code. Maybe he had a damsel in distress to save in the final level and rarely got to see her. As unpleasant as the idea was, Calhoun was forced to admit it. There was a strong chance that this was all just his program stringing him along.

Feeling the tight knot in her gut, Calhoun slammed the brakes on that line of thought and returned to the present. There was still an avatar at large. Possibility of another game being unplugged. Her troops needed to return soon to hold the cybugs at bay. Dealing with Felix would have to wait for another day.

She snapped open her communicator and glared at it, half-hoping it would broadcast her expression as well as her voice. "Status check, ladies, what's the gossip?"

A beat passed with nothing but static. Then a click. "Sarge.. we might have something."

Calhoun stopped in the middle of Game Central. Kohut never reported an assumption; in this case, 'might have' meant 'definitely not good'. "Give it to me straight, soldier. What's the damage?"

"Traces of an unauthorized individual slipping through a... what _should _be a wall," he went on uncomfortably. "Doing so has granted them access to a high-risk zone. It's uncharted territory, ma'am, and could prove dangerous to the rogue and the game."

The sergeant's arm flew to the firearm at her belt; by doing so, she swatted a passing ostrich, whose rider quickly supplied an apology. She paid them no mind. "I'm on my way. Everyone on this frequency will regroup at your coordinates, Kohut. Where are you?"

"It's... Hero's Duty."

Calhoun felt herself freeze. Not a second later, she was running full tilt for her game.

o-o-o

The wall in question looked innocent enough. It had no tears or uneven surfaces to suggest that an extra zone was hidden beyond its surface. Calhoun gave it a quick once over, with Kohut by her side and half of her squadron crowding the otherwise-ordinary maintenance tunnel, which had a direct connection to the train platform. The rogue hadn't needed to wander far to find this place – whatever it was.

"We picked up sounds of movement here," Kohut explained, gesturing to the cold steel plating before them. "I went to examine the wall and ended up pushing _through_ it. There's an entire room on the other side that, by all rights, shouldn't even exist here."

Calhoun nodded her understanding. "Did you scout the perimeter?"

"No, ma'am. The risk is too high. A room not programmed for us to actively interact with is bound to have glitches, no collision detection, no connecting directive to regenerate us, pitfalls in the floors..."

"And yet we've got a squatter with no intention of paying the rent making a cozy home for themselves." The hardcore marine set her face in a glower and cocked her rifle. "Cover me-"

"Sarge!" Kohut actually grabbed her shoulder to stop her. He was rewarded with a punch to the offending arm, and he released her almost as fast. "You can't go in there."

"Says who, _corporal_?" she sneered. "In case you've forgotten, we have two games at stake here! You wanna go running with your tail tucked to Burger Time and live happily ever after, you do it when you're off the clock!"

Kohut only flinched once, then met her stink-eye with an even gaze. "There's another risk involved. We aren't supposed to access this room but technically, it _is_ a part of the game. Trouble is, the presence of any in-game characters might trigger an... event."

"An event? Wha..." Very few possibilities came to mind then, and Calhoun suddenly realized what might be waiting on the other side. The weight of what she might be facing next sent a bolt of intimidation through her. Glancing at her soldiers, she could tell that they were all thinking the same thing. Every one of them knew. She forced her expression to harden in their presence, not wanting any of them to start feeling _sorry_ for her.

Breaking the silence, Kohut cleared his throat. "We'll fall back and prepare a strategy to best evacuate the intruder from the zone with minimal risk. A clear plan is our best bet for-"

"No time," Calhoun bit back at him, her eyes narrowed to determined slits. "Every second we spend _stalling_ out here is another chance for the rogue to do some real damage, to us AND to herself. We move now, or we risk losing two games in one fell swoop."

"We don't know what'll happen in there," he protested. "We can't even be sure the game will respawn us!"

"That's a chance we have to take! We have a duty to perform, soldier! Now are you gonna cover me, or should I get your mama to do it for you?"

The men glanced at each other, clearly not pleased with how this was going. Unfortunately, their sergeant had a point. No one spoke, although Kohut tightened his jaw. Then, he reached for his own rifle.

Calhoun allowed herself a sigh as she held her weapon at the ready. "If anything goes 'fubar' in there, a reset might be our only hope. Get our people in Game Central on standby."

Seconds later, she had gone through the wall.

o-o-o

Ralph stretched and groaned uncomfortably as he clambered out of the tiny rail cart. He glanced at the smaller maintenance man waiting patiently for him. "Seriously, can't you fix at least _one_ of these to be my size? It doesn't even have to be the front one, I'm not picky!"

Felix chuckled in friendly understanding. "I'll see what we can do. We might need to completely overhaul the track, but it shouldn't be too hard!" His chipper smile faded just a smidge, and he started twiddling his thumbs. "Ah, maybe we should have thought of that years ago.. I really _am_ sorry about all that-"

"Hey, hey, it's okay," the wrecker interjected, holding up an enormous hand. Almost a month had passed since Ralph saved the arcade, and after explaining the whole story to the Nicelanders, they'd put extra effort into making it up to him. None moreso than Felix, of course. If he wasn't dropping by Ralph's place with an extra pie or offering to touch up repairs to his new home, he'd made a point to offer some kind of apology almost every other day. Thirty years _was_ a long time to make up for, but in Ralph's mind, that wasn't so bad anymore – now that he had genuine friends.

Felix nodded up at Ralph and glanced around Game Central. His eyes fell on the soldiers standing guard at the Hero's Duty entrance, and his shoulders sagged. "Well, uh... we should probably tell the sergeant that we didn't find her here," he lightly suggested.

Ralph watched his in-game rival take a few steps away, then stomped ahead to catch up, a worried frown on his features. "Wait, listen, buddy, uh... don't take it too hard, we checked everywhere, right?"

"Mm-hmm," was his half-hearted reply.

The larger man tried again. "And now they can definitely cross our game off the list! Everyone back home's keeping an eye out just in case she tries to hide there, so that's one less thing!"

Felix nodded and kept walking.

"Okay look," Ralph huffed, finally having enough. All it took was a single step to effectively block Felix's path; he fixed the small hero with a stern eye and folded his arms. "I know it's not just the missing person that's gotcha down. You've been like this for _days_ now, and it's only whenever someone mentions Hero's Duty! What's going on?"

Multiple expressions flitted across Felix's face – surprise, guilt, irritation, sadness – before they vanished into stubborn calmness. "I haven't the faintest idea of what you mean, brother," he lilted in his usual carefree tone. But his tight fists and squared shoulders were a dead giveaway to the contrary.

To this, Ralph rolled his eyes, and his head seemed to follow them. "You're one of the worst liars around, Felix. If you can't go to Sergeant Calhoun's game and tell it to her face, I'll do it for you, but I wanna know why!"

A funny twitch passed over Felix at the mention of Calhoun's name, and his stance grew more rigid than before. Even so, Felix insisted on maintaining his easygoing persona. "It's really nothing to concern yourself with!" he attempted to laugh off. "C-come on, let's get a move on! They're probably wonderin' where we've-"

"You guys had a fight, huh?" Ralph interrupted with a blank look.

Felix jerked away. "Wha.. n-no, of course not!"

"Okay then, did you give her an embarrassingly cute pet name in front of the guys?" His arms unfolded, allowing his giant fists to rest casually on his hips. Maybe this wasn't the best time to go digging for the truth, but this was really getting on his nerves!

"A-absolutely not, do you know what she'd-"

"Tell her how much better 'retro' games are?"

"Now that's not tru-"

"Walk in on target practice again?"

Felix actually blanched. "NO, no, no no _never again_."

"Bring her a burnt pie?"

"No, Ralph, now I-"

"A half-eaten box of chocolates?"

"I would _never_-"

"Kissed on the first date?"

"_Ralph!_ That's _none_ of your-"

"Well then, what DID you do?" he finally asked, hands fed-up in the air.

"_I don't know!_" was the surprisingly strangled answer he got. Ralph blinked. His friend was twitching like mad, falling back to his 8-bit movements, and his blue cap was currently being wrung into a knot. Felix looked up at his with wide, desperate eyes. "She's _avoiding_ me now, Ralph! I-I don't know what went _wrong_, the last few visits to Tapper's went pretty smoothly, I thought, and... and I was going to ask her to a dance party at Yuni's place, but she barely even _looks_ at me anymore! Ooohhh, what if I _did_ say something horrible again?" His cap fell to the floor as he covered his face with his gloved hands. To Ralph's horror, it looked like his shoulders were starting to shake. "What if I finally _wrecked_ something, and it's _the one chance I **had** with her?_"

Quickly, Ralph knelt down and tried surrounding Felix with his hands, shielding him from the curious eyes being drawn their way. "Hey, hey, get a hold of yourself," he spoke lowly, "you're talking crazy talk. You don't wreck stuff, that's my gig! You're _Fix-It_ Felix. It's what you do best!" He offered a smile when Felix finally looked up at him. "Calhoun's strict, but she's a little different around you. Whatever's gone sideways with that lady, I can't think of anyone better to make it right."

Uncertainly, Felix sniffed and retrieved his cap from the floor. "You... you mean that?"

"Course I do! Come on, you've got a thirty year track record, remember? How many people around Litwak's can say that?"

The distraught handyman considered his friends' word for a moment. Then he heaved a sigh, and returned the cap to his head. He still looked a bit worn, but his smile to Ralph was genuine. "Thanks, brother."

"Anytime," the wrecker grunted as he roes to his feet. "Now let's get this overwith. The sooner we get to Hero's Duty and fill them in, the sooner-"

"Oh, I say! Are you chaps headed for Hero's Duty?"

The pair turned. Approaching them was a knight in gleaming golden armor, riding an ostrich and carrying a lance that nearly reached Ralph's height. He tugged the reigns of his steed and stopped before them.

"Uhh.. why yes, good sir knight!" Felix chimed in, recognizing the famous jouster. "We just wanted to stop in and.. say hello to.. our neighbors... and invite them for pie!" Ralph nodded beside him, hoping their story would sell. They'd been told to keep things under wraps, after all.

But the knight only shook his helmeted head with a clatter. "'Fraid that's quite out of order, my good fellows. The guardsmen are keeping a steady watch and a tight lip about all the hullabaloo in there. Don't seem the type to give quarter either, the arrogant brutes.."

"Hullaba-what-now?" Ralph muttered.

Felix, however, leaned forward. "Something's happening in there?"

"Can't say I know all the details," the knight conceded, speaking over a squawk from his ostrich. "But I overheard one of their soldiers say something about an errant code posing great peril to their game, and they've not allowed a soul in or out since. Do you know, I could have sworn one of the commanding officers who lead the charge back in there was a lady! Bless my soul, a _lady_ taking arms! Who would guess that times would change so quickly!"

The knight's audience had stopped listening. Ralph and Felix hurried to Hero's Duty without a word, but as they approached, the soldiers on patrol aimed their rifles and ordered them to halt.

"Let us through, we can help you guys!" Ralph demanded as the pair skidded to a stop.

One man raised the mask of his helmet, revealing Markowski's face to them. "Sarge's orders, no one goes in or out," he grumbled quietly, making sure no one else could hear. "We know all about you guys, but we've got a serious situation in there."

Felix brandished his hammer. "Ralph and I can fix it, sir, if you'll just let us pass!"

"Negatory! There's too much risk to our own men, let alone outsiders like yourselves. We'll keep you posted, but for now you have to turn around and-"

In a flash, Felix had leaped over Markowski and was dodging every person in his way. He seemed to ricochet off the walls and ceilings, undeterred by the shouting soldiers and their threats of opening fire. Ralph tried to follow, but he wasn't built for speed, and he soon found himself surrounded by determined military troops and their rifles.

"Felix!" he called down the passageway. "Felix, be careful! I'll be right there!"

"Not on our watch, Wreck-It!"

The sounds of Felix's jumps echoed into the distance, and soon they were heard no more.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED!** I am definitely finishing this in the next chapter, but it may be about a week before it gets done... schoolwork allowing and all! Apologies for any errors or poor structure, I'm not taking a ton of time to edit this and may tweak things at a later date. I hope you enjoyed this, and thank you for taking a look! Chao for now!


End file.
